Performance of a Prototype Tracking Detector With Waveform Sampling Electronics

A straw tracking detector was proposed for the MECO experiment in order to measure the parameters of the helical trajectory of electrons emitted from stopped muon decays. The events of interest are expected to be embedded in an intense background of both energetic electrons and low-energy protons. A prototype of the proposed detector with its DAQ system was built, tested, and compared to a simulation. The results are reported in this paper. They provide the information required to improve the computer simulation of the MECO experiment, and in general, the design of any high-rate DAQ system that is required to efficiently select minimum ionizing tracks from an environment of highly ionizing particles